The Lumsden Heritage Trust has reached another major milestone with the installation of a rare railway carriage.

The 19th century C class carriage C100's move to its permanent home in the Lumsden railway precinct brings the trust a step closer to completing a unique heritage train static display in the northern Southland town.

Southland Machine Hire contractors Roger McCracken and Pete Metcalfe carried out the tricky operation of manoeuvering the carriage on to a truck and then transporting it a few hundred metres to its final position.

Lumsden carpenter Gordon Lawrence, who completed the restoration of another of the trust’s passenger cars, A199, again did the timber work on C100.

The steel underframe and spoked wheels set were built by Bulleid Engineering of Winton, using parts recovered from three wagons at the bottom of a gully near Hyde, Central Otago, in January 2022.

The C class carriage was gifted to the trust in 2022 by the Chris and Ruth McDermott, of Winton, who had used it as a garden shed. It is believed to be one of only four left in the country, and one of only two that are on tracks.

The carriage was assembled in New Zealand in 1877 after arriving from Britain in a flatpack. It served with New Zealand Rail until around 1921, before moving to Wairio for the Ohai Railway Board where it was in use until 1941.

The final part of the historic train is an 1880 D Class locomotive, D6, which is currently being restored by Marque Hindle at Bulleid Engineering.

It is hoped it will take its place at the head of the Lumsden train around March next year.

Once in position it will sit at the head of a unique collection of passenger carriages that represent the engineering and design of the late 19th century – C100 (1877), A199 (1883) and A525 (1896).

Funding for this part of the project has come from Lotteries Environment and Heritage, Community Trust South, Southland District Council’s Districts Initiative Fund and Northern Southland Development Fund, and Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand.